A Matter Of Perception
by Robert Teague
Summary: Canary Yellow and Indigo learn that things aren't always what they seem to be...


A Matter of Perception Copyright 2000 by Robert Teague This story is written solely for the entertainment of Rainbow Brite fans, and no copyright infringement is intended. This story may be reproduced, provided no changes are made and you let me know.

7 September 2011 edited and reformatted for easier reading

Author's Note: This story came about because of some things about star colors I've noticed in the astronomy research I do as a hobby. "The Stars And Their Colors" is based on a real book, but I did not use it because I don't remember the author's name or the correct title. It was surprising to me that this story also ties together most of my Rainbow Brite fan fiction.  
I hadn't planned that either; it just happened as the story progressed. Enjoy! Robert Teague, 24 December 2000

Canary Yellow opened the door to Shy Violet's Keep in the Color Castle.

"Violet?" she called, "We're going to the lake and swim; would you like to go?"

"I'll be ready in a minute, Canary," was the reply from the room above.

While she waited, Canary looked around. A book on a table caught her attention because of the picture on the dust jacket. It showed a field of stars of all colors, nearly as beautiful as any night Moonglo could make. The title was "The Stars And Their Colors".

She had picked it up and was flipping through it finding more pictures when Violet came down the spiral staircase. She was wearing a one-piece violet bathing suit, violet flip-flops, and had a big, fluffy violet towel and a bottle of sun block.

Canary looked at the bottle, and Violet noticed. "Just because I like violet, it doesn't mean I want ULTRA violet on me!"  
she said with a smile.

Canary laughed. "Who told you about the swimming party?" she asked.

"Buddy did, several days ago. He kept pestering me about it until I said I would go."

"He CAN be persistant, and this time I'm glad he was. Can I take this book with me?" asked Canary, holding it up.

"Uh, sure, if you want to," said Violet.

"I wanted to get a better look at the pictures; there are some really pretty ones."

"It's not very technical," said Violet, "You might enjoy reading it."

"Thanks! We'd better go, they're probably all waiting for us."

The two Color Kids ran out the door, leaving it open behind them.

Outside, Starlite had been hitched to the wagon they used when all the Kids had to go to Earth or elsewhere. The other Kids were in the wagon, while Rainbow and Twink sat on Starlite. Violet and Canary ran from the Castle to the wagon. Red climbed out and gallantly held out his hand and helped them in before settling back in his place.

Starlite looked around. "Everybody here?" he asked.

Rainbow looked around and did a quick count. "We're ready to go," she said. She touched the star on the Color Belt, and a rainbow appeared under Starlite's hooves. It streached up and eastward, toward the lake at the foot of the mountain chain that ran north into the Pits.

"Then let's be off!" said Starlite. He ran up the rainbow.

As the Castle diminished in size behind and below them, Violet suddenly gasped, and looked back at it. A few sprites were there, waving goodbye.

"What's wrong?" asked Buddy.

"I forgot my mask, snorkle, and fins," answered Violet, "I was going to study the fresh-water fish in the lake." She thought for a moment, then added, "Oh well, I"m going to have a different kind of fun than studying science, for once."

Red grinned. "Good for you!" he said, emphatically.

"I can think of it as a learning experience," she added.

Buddy looked at Patty and rolled his eyes. Patty responded by giggling behind her hand. Violet sighed inside. They hadn't realized she was making a joke.

"I'll bet you wish Amethyst was here," said Tickled Pink.

Violet immediately turned bright red in the face. She smiled slightly, but looked down and didn't reply. Amethyst was a boy violet Color Kid she had met last Christmas. *

"She hasn't been in the sun for five minutes, and is already turning red," whispered Patty to Buddy.

"SNERK!" exploded Buddy, and he turned away from Violet so she wouldn't see him laughing.

Seeing Violet's discomfort,. Lala looked forward. "Did you invite Brian and his family, Rainbow?" she asked.

Rainbow looked back at her. "Yes, I did, Lala, but they had already made plans for today."

There were murmurs of disappointment. All the Kids liked Brian and his wife and children.**

Violet looked gratefully at Lala, who smiled and nodded.

"What about your friend Jade, Stormy?" asked Moonglo.

"Ah, no," she answered, "I haven't told her anything about where I live, or any of you." She glanced uncomfortably at Rainbow. "I wasn't sure I should."

"It's okay, Stormy," said Rainbow, "Any friend of yours is welcome in Rainbowland."

"Okay, good," said Stormy. "I'll invite her next time."

"We're here," called Starlite, landing neatly on the lakeshore with hardly a bump to the passengers. Rainbow slid off of Starlite's back, and began releasing his harness. Red climbed out and helped. The other Kids got out as well, leaving the things they'd brought with them in the wagon, including the large picnic lunch.

Mid-morning of a late summer day in Rainbowland was perfect for swimming. The lake was a deep vivid blue, turning lighter as the depth lessened. The water lapped gently against the shore. The star-shaped trees around the lake were bright and colorful, with birds chirping in the branches. On the other side of the lake, the mountains rose, their feet covered with trees, which thinned out as they climbed higher. Only one mountain was tall enough to have snow at this time of year, and it was a bright white patch high above them.

Out on the lake, many sprite-sized sailboats with brightly-colored sails were plowing along. The sprites aboard waved at the Kids as they went by.

"They're having tryouts for the sailing regatta next week," said Buddy to Patty.

"Looks like some new boats, this year," she answered, shading her eyes and looking out over the water. She had noted there were some whose paint was brighter than others.

"Uh huh. Remember a bunch of them had to be replaced after the war," he said.

"Oh, yeah, that's right," she said. A boat with a green sail had caught her attention. Her favorite sprite Lucky was aboard,  
and he was in the lead. She waved, and he waved back.

For several hours the Kids swam and played games in and beside the water. Sprites came up and joined them in having fun.  
Violet, almost in spite of herself, had a lot of fun and didn't think about science.

If an adult from Earth had seen the activity, he would have said they were children, playing children's games. And he would have been surprised to learn he was wrong in that perception. Despite a physical resemblence, they were not children.  
Although they were barely adults by their race's standards, they had already lived for millions of years, and they knew the importance of play and fun to keep the mind fresh and young.

They sat and ate their picnic lunch; various kinds of sandwiches, fruits, and Buddy's specialty lemonade. For dessert, a German chocolate cake that went quickly. Starlite enjoyed the carrots and other vegetables they had brought especially for him.

After lunch, Canary sat under a tree and looked at the book she had borrowed. There were star fields with stars of every color, and pictures of individual stars; red Antares, orange Tau Ceti, and blue Altair.

"What are you reading, Canary?" asked Indigo, wiping her mouth as she stood there. She had just finished a big piece of cake.

"Violet loaned me a book on star colors," she answered, holding it up so Indigo could see the cover picture.

"Oohh, that's pretty. Can I join you?" she asked.

"Sure!" said Canary, skootching over. Indigo sat down by her and looked at the open page.

"Wow, look at that one!" said Indigo, pointing at a dark blue star.

"Nice," said Canary, "But I'm more interested in that one." She pointed at a bright yellow one.

They both giggled.

For a while they turned pages and made exclamations over the stars newly revealed. There were many pictures of Earth's sun,  
made in different colors, which showed different details for each color. A particular passage of text caught Canary's attention:

"Despite many centuries of traditon saying so, the Sun is not yellow. It shines brightest in the green part of the visible spectrum. Due to the mixture of the different colors, it appears white; about the color of snow."

Canary sat back, stunned. "The Earth's sun is GREEN?" she said.

Indigo looked at her, puzzled. "What?" she asked, "What's green?"

"The Earth's sun." She pointed at the passage. "This says it's not yellow, but green."

Indigo read the words, then shrugged. "It looks yellow to me. I wouldn't worry about it."

"No, this is important," said Canary, "If that sun isn't my color, I need to know that."

She looked around, and found Violet sitting by the otherwise-deserted picnic basket, munching on a pickle and staring thoughtfully over the water.

"Violet!" Canary called.

There was no response.

"VIOLET!" called Canary again, louder.

This time it did penetrate, because Violet looked around at her. Canary waved her to come over, and Violet stood up,  
grabbing another pickle as she did.

"What is it?" she asked, and took a bite of pickle.

"Read this," said Canary, standing up and showing her the passage. Indigo stood up as well.

Violet read it and looked at Canary with a neutral expression.

"Well? Is it true?" she asked.

Violet looked down. "Yes," she almost whispered, turning red again.

"So I've been doing extra work all this time, making sure there are more than enough yellow star sprinkles to keep it that way, when it's really none of my business?" she asked, turning angry.

"No, it's not that way!" said Violet, "It's really a matter of perception."

"What do you mean?" asked Indigo.

Violet thought for a moment. "How to explain this... Oh! You've seen those color wheels where half is blue and half is yellow, and when you spin it, it looks green, even though there is no green actually on it?"

"Yeah..." said Canary.

"Well, it's like that in this case. Human eyes see best in the part of the spectrum the sun is brightest in. And that's green, in the exact middle. But when the light of the sun hits the Earth's atmosphere, it loses enough energy to be shifted slightly toward the red end of the spectrum, and so it looks yellow to those at the bottom of the air."

"Oh. I think I see..." said Canary, thoughtfully.

"Me too," said Indigo.

"Good," said Violet, and finished her pickle. "Anyway, the sun shines with all the colors."

She took the book from Canary and flipped a few pages. Finding what she sought, she pointed at a spectrum of the Sun's light.  
"See, all the colors are there."

"Where's indigo?" asked Indigo.

The other two looked at her.

"Indigo isn't listed," she said pointing at the diagram. "See: there's red, orange, yellow, green, blue...violet. No indigo."

"Oh, yes," said Violet, embarrassed slightly, but too happy to have an opportunity to explain something to let it bother her much , "I noticed that too, so checked some other references. In the last decade or so, human scientists have quit including indigo. But I never did find out why."

"You mean my color doesn't exist any more?" asked Indigo, getting upset in her turn.

"No, no," said Violet, "Of course your color exists. I guess they just find it simpler to list them this way. Yours IS a tertiary color, after all."

"That's true," answered Indigo, slightly mollified, "But I still don't like it." She thought for a second. "I suppose that means there aren't any indigo stars."

"Of course there are," answered Violet. She flipped a page, and pointed. "There's three of them right there. Astronomers just don't CALL them 'indigo stars', that's all."

"Why didn't you tell us these things?" asked Canary.

"I-I didn't want to upset either of you," she answered, "And it doesn't really matter abou either of them, anyway," said Violet.

"So, the Earth's sun is green, but shines white, and looks yellow," said Canary.

"That's right," said Violet.

"I guess that explains why the Color Console always reports the Sun's amount of yellow to be off slightly, no matter how much I apply. I always thought it was a glitch in the system. Now I know the truth. Thanks! I can quit worrying about it,  
then." With one less problem bothering her, Canary smiled, and her face lit up. She looked over where Red, Rainbow, and Patty were collecting smooth stones for skipping.

Indigo still looked unhappy, and it made Violet sad as well. She didn't know what to say to make her friend feel better.

"There are so few indigo things, and now I'm not even listed as part of the rainbow," she said.

Inspiration hit. "There aren't that many violet things, either", answered Violet. "But how things are perceived can be different from what the reality is. And the reality is that your color is just as real, and just as important as any other.  
The rainbow couldn't exist without you."

"Right!" agreed Canary, mimicing Red's favorite expression.

Indigo looked thoughtful for a few moments, then smiled at Violet. "You're right," she said, "I shouldn't worry about it.  
If my color wasn't real, I wouldn't exist. And that's the important thing, not how somebody classifies it."

"As I said, it's just a matter of perception," said Violet.

She closed the book of star colors, and put it down under the tree. Then hand in hand in hand, the three Color Kids ran to join their friends skipping stones.

The End

* See "A Gift for Shy Violet"  
**See "Lights of the Present"  
See "Stormy, Weather or Not" 


End file.
